swim season

The waters of Gardiner’s Bay have been warming up perceptibly, and I have finally been able to swim without my face numbing.

Today at high tide, while standing and waiting to adjust in waist-high water, something bit my heel.

In the Sound during hot months, little 2″ / 5cm long white fish gently nibble and exfoliate my legs. This was not that. This was a bite. And the next bite was on my toe. And the bite after that was even harder. I peered in and saw this:

It looked like a rock, about 7″ / 17.8cm long and triangular pyramid shape. I kicked at it. It came right back, biting harder. And I was mad I had to swim earlier than I was ready.

Great story, Christina! I’ve never encountered one of those. I’ll tell you a story sometime (not suitable for publication, and it would be hard to draw, too) about an adventure I had with a small barracuda while babysitting an anchored barge off Trinidad… it nearly changed my life! But like Ishmael, I lived to tell the tale.